Apparatus for inoculation against smallpox and the like having means for vibrating and heating a needle



March 1967 N. o. A. PETERSON 3,308,823

APPARATUS FOR INOCULATION AGAINST SMALLPOX AND THE LIKE HAVING MEANS FOR VIBRATING AND HEATING A NEEDLE 1965- 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. '7,

' INVENTOR. Nl'Ls (ls/(am Abraham Peterson BY WM JW 3 1 min March 14, 1967 N. o. A. PETERSON 3,308.823

APPARATUS FOR INOCULATION AGAINST SMALLPOX AND THE LIKE HAVING MEANS FOR VIBRATING AND HEATING A NEEDLE Filed Nov. 7, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 22 S1 23 T1 1 T3 INVENTOR. NI'Ls Oskax Abraham Peferson BY Y P aw a, iww

United States Patent 7 Claims. cl. 128-253) Inoculation against smallpox is made with a living, weakened vaccinia-virus, more particularly cow pox virus, which gives immunity also against the more dangerous smallpox virus, Variola virus.

The principle in the inoculation is that the vaccine is, in some way, introduced into the tissue of the body.

The method heretofore varies in difierent countries.

Abroad methods are used which mean that the vaccine is injected into or under the skin. In Sweden the vaccine is introduced into the skin. This can be carried out in two ways, viz. an older method and the so-called multiple pressure method on which the present invention is based and which hitherto has been carried out in the following manner: One or more drops of vaccine are placed on the skin; by a pointed instrument, such as a needle, lancet or the like, there are, while holding the instrument almost parallel to the skin surface, made repeated (20 to 30) impressions of the instrument point against the skin surface with a direction of motion which is perpendicular to the skin. During the incision the skin should be stretched, and the skin area treated should be 3 to mm. in diameter. By these presses against the skin small ruptures are caused in the horny layer, and the virus particles are by the instrument point brought down to the stratum germinativum. Possibly they are sucked down to this stratum by the capillary force. There is no or only insignificant bleeding, nor any appreciable pain if the operation is carried out correctly. At the inoculation a new sterile needle (if such is used) must be used for each patient or the needle must be heated if it endures heating.

The object of the present invention is to mechanize the inoculation process and thereby considerably reduce the time required for each inoculation.

In multi-inoculations on adults with the apparatus 700 persons can be inoculated per hour. By way of comparison it may be mentioned that using the multiple pressure method 250 persons can with the help of an assistant be inoculated per hour.

The apparatus according to the invention for inoculation against smallpox and the like is characterized in that it comprises a vibrator carried by a handle, for vibrating a needle, a lancet or the like and a device for heating the same by electric current and preferably a lamp for illuminating the part of the skin where the inoculation is to be made.

The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is, partly in section, a side view of an embodiment of the apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a detail thereof.

FIG. 3 shows a circuit diagram for the apparatus.

The embodiment of the apparatus according to the invention disclosed in FIG. 1 comprises a casing 1 which is carried by a handle 2 through which the electric supply line 3 passes.

The casing 1 contains an electromagnetic vibrator of known kind, denoted by V in FIG. 3, the vibrating arm 4 of which is provided with an opening in which a holder or sleeve 5 for a needle (or lancet) P is inserted and 15 fixed thereto.

3,308,823 Patented Mar. 14, 1967 retained by means of a screw 6. The needle P and a heating coil 7 surrounding said needle form-with their ends electrodes 8 resting against wire 9 which are passed through the vibrator arm 4. The heating of the needle is for the purpose of sterilizing it between inoculations. The fixing of the holder 5 in the arm 4 is shown on a larger scale in the horizontal section in FIG. 2. The heating coil 7 is at its front end welded to the needle P, but the rest of the coil is insulated from the needle. Instead of the needle with the heating coil it is also possible to use a slotted lancet serving as an incandescent resistance, the ends of the lancet formed by the slotting constituting the electrodes 8. The vibration amplitude of the vibrator is controllable by means of a screw 10 in a known manner. A lamp L1 fixed to the casing serves for illuminating the area of the skin which is to be inoculated. Said lamp may also be built into the casing. A double-bent steel-wire member 11 is, at its both ends, pivotably and displaceably fixed to both sides of the casing 1 so that it can be moved into a position to serve as a support for the apparatus against the skin area in question. To the handle 2 there is, in a manner not shown, fixed a dispenser for vaccine, consisting of a syringe in the form of a cylinder 12 in which a plunger 13 may be advanced by being in thread engagement with a screw 14 which is rotatable by means of a fluted knob To the front end of the cylinder 12 there is detachably attached one end of a hose 16 of plastic material, the other end 17 of which is inserted in a pipe 18 secured to the casing 1, said pipe being provided with a screw 19 for retaining the hose. If desired, the hose may be adapted to be coiled up in a groove inside a circular flange, not shown, on the casing, as is indicated by the dot-dash circular line 20. The lamp L1,the heating circuit for the lancet P and the vibrator winding V are arranged to be connected by the switch S3, the switch S2 respectively and the change-over switch 0, as is seen more closely in FIG. 3.

In FIG. 3 the dot and dash line rectangle H represents the handle apparatus disclosed in FIG. 1, Whereas the dot and dash line rectangle L represents an apparatus casing which contains a current supply unit and which is intended to be placed on the floor, for example. The plug 22 which is to be connected to a wall socket is, via a main switch S1 and fuses 23, connected with the primary winding T1 of a transformer T and with a glow indicating lamp L2 connected in parallel with said winding, said lamp being energized when the transformer is connected. The secondary winding consists of two seriesconnected windings T2, T3 respectively. T2 energizes, via said switch S3, the illuminating lamp L1, FIG. 1, and in parallel therewith the heating circuit via said change-over switch 0 and said switch S2, while the winding T3 is, via the change-over switch, adapted to supply current to the vibrator winding V. The lamp switch S3 is a tumbler switch with two positions and is shown in its open position of rest. The switch S2 and the changeover switch 0 are micro-switches and are constructed especially for high currents and return automatically to the initial positions shown. As is evident from the circuit diagram, the current to the heating switch can be closed by means of the switch S2 only when the changeover switch 0 is in its initial position, i.e. when the vibrator is without current. Consequently, the lancet cannot begin to glow during the inoculation, and the risk of burning the patient is in this manner eliminated.

What I claim is:

1. Apparatus for inoculation against smallpox and the like, comprising a supporting structure, an electromagnetic vibrator mounted on said structure, said vibrator having a vibrating arm, a needle, means connecting said needle to said arm, electric means for heating said needle, an electric power supply to said electric heating means, an electric power supply to said vibrator and switching means for energizing said electric heating means only when said vibrator is deenergized and for energizing said vibrator only when said heating means is deenergized.

2. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 comprising a light mounted on said structure and connected to be energized simultaneously with and independently of said electric heating means and said vibrator.

3. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 in which said means for heating said needle consists of an electric resistance heating element coiled around and welded to said needle and having two terminals, said means connecting said needle to said vibrating arm consists of an insulating sleeve surrounding said electric resistance heating element and a recess in said vibrating arm receiving an end of said sleeve, and said electric power supply to said electric heating means comprises electric conductors extending through said vibrating arm to said recess for contact with said two terminals.

4. Apparatus for inoculation against smallpox and the like comprising a supporting structure, an electromagnetic vibrator mounted on said structure, said vibrator having a vibrating arm, an electric power supply to said vibrator, a lancet-shaped needle and slotted lengthwise and thus providing an electric resistance heating element with two terminals, an insulating sleeve surrounding said needle, a recess in said vibrating arm receiving an end of said sleeve, electric conductors extending through said arm to said recess and contacting said two terminals, an electric power supply connected to said electric conductors and switching means for connecting said electric power supply to said vibrator only when said electric power supply to said electric conductors is interrupted and for connecting said electric power supply to said electric conductors only when said electric power supply to said vibrator is interrupted.

5. Apparatus for inoculation against smallpox and the like comprising a supporting structure, a vibrator having a vibrating arm supported on said structure, a needle connected to said vibrating arm, electric resistance heating means for heating said needle, an electric indicating lamp and an electric illuminating lamp, said illuminating lamp mounted on said structure, an electric power supply, a transformer connected to said electric power supply, said transformer having a primary winding permanently connected in parallel to said electric indicating lamp, said transformer having a first secondary winding connected in series through a first electric switch to said illuminating lamp and in series through a second electric switch to said electric resistance heating means.

6. Apparatus as defined in claim 5 in which said transformer comprises a second secondary winding connected through a third electric switch to said vibrator.

7. Apparatus as defined in claim 6 in which said third electric switch is a change-over switch capable of closing the circuit of said first secondary winding and said electric resistance heating element or the circuit of said second secondary winding and said vibrator.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,038,011 9/1912 Snell 12823 1,844,247 2/1932 Freemon 128-41 X 2,488,477 11/ 1949 Rapaport 2l9--240 2,565,081 8/ 1951 Maynes 128218 2,588,623 3/1952 Eliscu et al 128253 2,714,890 8/1955 Vang 128-305 2,790,058 4/1957 DeVerrier 2l9-230 X 2,815,430 12/1957 Weiss 2 1923O X FOREIGN PATENTS 1,067,076 1/ 1954 France. 286,128 6/ 1931 Italy.

RICHARD A. GAUDET, Primary Examiner.

R. L. FRINKS, Assistant Examiner. 

1. APPARATUS FOR INOCULATION AGAINST SMALLPOX AND THE LIKE, COMPRISING A SUPPORTING STRUCTURE, AN ELECTROMAGNETIC VIBRATOR MOUNTED ON SAID STRUCTURE, SAID VIBRATOR HAVING A VIBRATING ARM, A NEEDLE, MEANS CONNECTING SAID NEEDLE TO SAID ARM, ELECTRIC MEANS FOR HEATING SAID NEEDLE, AN ELECTRIC POWER SUPPLY TO SAID ELECTRIC HEATING MEANS, AN ELECTRIC POWER SUPPLY TO SAID VIBRATOR AND SWITCHING MEANS FOR ENERGIZING SAID ELECTRIC HEATING MEANS ONLY WHEN SAID VIBRATOR IS DEENERGIZED AND FOR ENERGIZING SAID VIBRATOR ONLY WHEN SAID HEATING MEANS IS DEENERGIZED. 